Northwest plans to furlough about 67 pilots in February.
To clarify, this next group is in addition to those being laid-off this fall. The company announced last week that about 1400 flight attendant jobs will vanish, but quite a number of these people will reportedly be able to take voluntary leave. Maybe it is just a coincidence that NW Marketing just initiated a hefty discount in leisure fares, but I have no idea what percentage these tickets represent in a company's total number of sales.
The bad news was in a notice from the US airline's Chief Pilot.
By the way, is it true that despite pilot contract requirements for a minimum of xxxx narrow body flying hours, an airline can park quite a number of these planes at a maintenance facility, indefinitely, and still comply with the contract language?
What has caught many US pilots off guard is how many supposedly unprofitable 44-seat regional jets can be "slipped between contract definitions" and continue to replace mainline flying, resulting in much less turnover at regionals, as the years drag by. One day, many regional pilots might find that there will be not only far fewer jobs with the US majors during an economic recovery, but also that the 'golden' turbofan PIC hours flying an EFIS/FMC cockpit might bring no advantage to the resume, compared to Brasilia or Saab-340/ATR-72 PIC experience.
Last edited by Ignition Override; 14th Oct 2002 at 03:28.